Alfred and Plantagenet Township Council has endorsed a motion adopted by Clarence-Rockland City Council requesting the United Counties of Prescott and Russell (UCPR) study the feasibility of having policing administered at the regional level.
Currently, the Hawkesbury Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Detachment and the Russell County OPP Detachment, which has stations in Rockland and Embrun, are each administered by separate Detachment boards composed of members appointed by municipalities and the Province of Ontario.
The resolution adopted by Clarence-Rockland Council on December 10, 2025, alleges administering OPP services at the upper-tier level can provide cost-planning efficiencies by centralizing oversight, coordinating county-wide budgeting, and distributing costs more fairly across all communities that receive the same provincially delivered policing model. It also contends that centralized oversight of policing services at the upper-tier level reduces administrative duplication, would align governance across the county, and may allow the consolidation of OPP detachment boards in accordance with the Community Safety and Policing Act (CSPA). The motion further suggests additional efficiencies may be achieved by planning OPP infrastructure (such as satellite offices or detachment resources) from a county wide perspective rather than responding to the needs of individual municipalities.
The resolution says that policing is a regionally oriented service similar to paramedic services, which are already administered at the county level and notes that seven other regional governments in Ontario, including the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry—operate under regional or single-tier OPP service delivery models. Regional Municipalities such as Durham and York, which oversee policing at the regional level, have separate regional police forces.
Clarence-Rockland Council formally supports the concept of administering OPP services at the county level to ensure equitable costsharing for all residents and improved operational efficiency across the region and requests that the UCPR study and consider the implementation of a county-level OPP service delivery and governance model, including analysis of billing implications and consolidation of detachment boards where feasible. The motion has been shared with the UCPR, each of the seven other municipalities within the UCPR, and the Ministry of the Solicitor General.
On Tuesday, January 13, Alfred and Plantagenet Council adopted a resolution in support of the motion. Councillor Ian Walker, who has previously been critical of policing costs, said studying the possibility of regulating policing at the UCPR level could lead to greater efficiency.
